CHOPIN 23

was so loud that I couldn't hear the orchestra's

tutti____The Freie Phantasie didn't go off quite so

well, but there was a lot of clapping and bravos,
and I had to come out again." Chopin's friends
had placed themselves in various parts of the
house in order to collect evidence of the audi-
ence's feelings. The eavesdropping produced
only one unfavourable remark, that of a woman
who said : " Pity the boy has so little style ! "
For the rest, they said, thfcre was nothing but
praise and, they assured him, the cheering was
started by the audience, not by themselves. But
it was his improvisation that brought enthusiasm
to the highest point. People'stood on the seats to
acclaim him. For his improvisations he took,
first, a theme from Boieldieu's comic opera La
Dame Blanche^ which he had heard a few nights
earlier, second, a Polish drinking-song, " which
electrified the public, for here such songs are rarely
heard."

It is interesting to learn that, in spite of this suc-
cess, there was a general impression that Chopin
had played too softly " or, rather," as he himself
put it," too delicately for people used to the piano-
pounding of the artists here. I expect to find this
reproach in the paper, especially as the editor's
daughter thumps frightfully." He regarded the
criticism, in fact, as a compliment. | If they had
said that his touch was too loud, that would have
been serious. We may take the criticism which
appeared in the Wiener Theaterzeitung as being a
faithfully recorded impression : " His playing and